Huawei MateBook D 14 Assessment

The Huawei MateBook D 14 needs to be thought of by all college students and productiveness customers, particularly these for whom worth for cash is a precedence. Scholar favourites such because the MacBook Air and Floor Laptop computer are available in at costs of at the least £300 extra, and whereas you’re going to get a greater efficiency and show with costlier choices, the MateBook D remains to be comfortably high quality sufficient to please your common laptop computer person

Professionals

• Robust productiveness performer
• Premium design at a low value
• Pleasurable keyboard expertise

Cons

• Mediocre show
• Nonetheless not a fan of webcam positioning

Key Specs

• 14-inch Full HD Matte show
• AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU
• 8GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• Home windows 10 Residence
• Dimensions: 323 x 215 x 15.9mm
• Weight: 1.38kg

Huawei not too long ago launched its 2020 lineup of recent merchandise and, among the many folding telephones and uniquely colored flagship laptops, you could have missed the reveal of some new mid-rangers: the MateBook D 14 and 15.

Whereas the Huawei MateBook X Professional possible caught the eye of most in the course of the latest launch occasion – with its beautiful inexperienced color choices – the MateBook D 14 may simply be a darkish horse, and a cracking possibility for college kids.

The Huawei MateBook D 14 opts for a low value together with some modest elements in comparison with flagship Ultrabooks, creating an interesting providing for individuals who don’t need to break the financial institution. However, does Huawei get the stability of value and options proper?

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Huawei MateBook D 14 design – Not precisely Apple and oranges

The Huawei MateBook D 14 is a great-looking laptop computer, particularly for the worth. Nevertheless, there’s no getting across the truth this system takes many cues from the Apple MacBook vary – intentional or not.

Nonetheless, Apple has among the best-designed clamshells available on the market, so there are worse firms to look to when modelling your units. As such, the MateBook D 14 is a modern laptop computer.

Primarily made from an aluminium alloy, the MateBook D 14 is suitably light-weight and sports activities a clear steel look. That is additional acentuated by the only House Gray color possibility.

The Huawei MateBook D 14’s port provision is okay; it provides greater than many laptops this dimension. There’s a USB-A 3.0 port, a USB-A 2.0 port, a full-size HDMI (essentially the most spectacular inclusion), a headphone jack and one USB-C.

The USB-C is for charging, and this makes me lengthy for an additional USB-C port on the system – possible as a substitute of the USB-A 2.0 port – to permit for 2 simultaneous USB-C connections. There’s additionally no Thunderbolt 3 assist right here, which might dramatically increase knowledge switch speeds and permit for video output. 

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Huawei MateBook D 14 keyboard and trackpad – Preferrred for essays

The keyboard is one other space wherein the Huawei MateBook D 14 emanates MacBook vibes, notably when it comes to appears. Fear not butterfly swap haters – this isn’t what you get right here.

The MateBook D 14 keyboard doesn’t provide an enormous quantity of journey, but it surely isn’t so little that it’ll trigger fatigue points. The keyboard can also be suitably tactile and clicky for such a skinny system whereas managing to remain fairly quiet. 

Like many MateBooks earlier than it, the webcam sits on the centre of the perform keys and pops up while you click on it. The angle is, after all, unflattering – however the change permits for slender bezels across the show and it’s good to have simply in case.

To the facet of the keys sits the facility button, which additionally acts as a fingerprint sensor. The sensor works as you’d anticipate, with no points and negligible enter lag.

The trackpad is an open and shut case. The MateBook chooses to not mimic Apple’s enormous trackpad model right here, choosing one thing extra modest. By way of efficiency, I’ve skilled no points. The trackpad is responsive from nook to nook and provides an honest stage of journey when pressed in. 

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Huawei MateBook D 14 show – The “Matte” issue

Show panels can typically be one of many extra expensive components when manufacturing a tool. Its this space the place it feels as if Huawei has made some financial savings, however that doesn’t imply it’s poor in on a regular basis use.

The brightness is nice, however not nice at 282.9 nits – I’d say you’ll battle to make use of it in brightly lit circumstances, however the matte show will assist out drastically on this space.

Due to fairly deep black ranges although, the distinction is available in at a really respectable 1141:1. For the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus, this laptop computer’s show needs to be enough.

In relation to color vary although, our show benchmarks had been fairly poor. The assessments got here again at 59% sRGB, 41% Adobe RGB and 42% DCI-P3. In layman’s phrases, this implies you received’t actually need to use this laptop computer for any design work that depends on color accuracy. Nevertheless, this doesn’t actually hinder this laptop computer’s capacity to deal with the fundamentals of pupil life, similar to net looking and essay writing.

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Huawei MateBook D 14 efficiency – A Goldilocks performer

In the event you check out the spec sheet of the Huawei MateBook D 14, you’re unlikely to be blown away. To be sincere, you would possibly even be somewhat involved about efficiency – however fear not.

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD provides a quick expertise that outperformed my expectations. For a pupil who could be operating upwards of 10+ Chrome tabs and different productiveness software program, you’ll hardly ever run into slowdowns. I managed to have 20 tabs operating earlier than any signal of slowdown.

In the event you go for a pricier machine, such because the HP Envy 13, you would possibly get extra horsepower. Nevertheless, for the scholar and productiveness market, I’m undecided you’ll want greater than what the Huawei provides.

On the opposite facet of the coin, for those who look to economize then the units we’ve examined at round £100 much less have proven diminished functionality in comparison with the Huawei MateBook D 14. This Huawei providing sits at a stage of efficiency that’s excellent.

It goes with out saying that gaming is off the desk since there’s an absence of graphics card. Even low-intensive video games like Fortnite received’t run properly right here, in contrast to with extra premium ultrabooks that now function highly effective built-in graphics.

The Huawei MateBook D 14’s SSD speeds are surprisingly nippy with a learn rating of 3476 MB/s and write rating of 1928 MB/s. These are each superior outcomes to what you’d usually discover from laptops just a few hundred quid dearer, leading to diminished ready instances when saving or loading knowledge to/out of your drive.

One anomaly that we did discover with the SSD within the MateBook D 14 was a drive partition. The partition splits the default SSD drive right into a sub-100GB drive and the remainder of the storage within the different. We’ve contacted Huawei to clear up whether or not that is as customary, as this may be fairly the effort as the primary drive will replenish fairly rapidly, and can replace this assessment accordingly.

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Huawei MateBook D 14 battery life – Suitably sizeable

The Huawei MateBook D 14 contains a 56Wh battery and, in our testing, it lasted slightly below 9 hours. The check just about matches up with the 9.5 hours “all-day battery life” that Huawei touts. That is considerably of a rarity; some firm battery life claims typically fall brief in real-world use.

If you end up operating low, then you definately’ll respect the MateBook’s velocity of the charging. It’s in a position so as to add slightly below 50% of cost in half an hour – ideally suited for a pupil or employee who’s on-the-go.

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Do you have to purchase the Huawei MateBook D 14?

The Huawei MateBook D 14 might be a contender for the most effective (and most inexpensive) pupil laptops available on the market immediately. It sits at a value level the place it has little competitors. Units which might be £100 cheaper, such because the Avita Liber 14, are worse performers. Then there are these units that value a few hundred kilos extra, such because the HP Envy 13, which provide higher benchmark stats, however will not be price the additional money for productiveness customers.

In the event you’re these laptops then you definately’ll most likely discover the Huawei MateBook D 15. The 15-inch model of this vary is £50 cheaper, however comes with half the storage and a smaller battery. Except you’re determined for a 15-inch show, we’d go for the 14-inch mannequin each time.

The Huawei MateBook D 14 needs to be thought of by all college students and productiveness customers, particularly those that prioritise worth for cash. Scholar favourites such because the MacBook Air and Floor Laptop computer are available in at a value of at the least £300 extra. The MateBook D 14 provides a super-attractive value level at simply £649, making it one among our prime really helpful choices for college kids and people on a finances.